JOHN Singleton picked up $51,000 in prizemoney as owner of Ladies Day Cup winner Strawberry Boy but he gave more than $5000 back to punters by shouting the bar at Hawkesbury following his horse’s win last Thursday.
Strawberry Boy was sent out a $6 chance, and following a string of bad luck in recent years, showed he was back in form with a dominant win for new trainer Chris Waller.
‘‘That’s a good horse,’’ Singleton said.
‘‘He was going to be a champion at two, three, four and five but something’s always gone wrong with him and hopefully this time it doesn’t,’’ Singleton said.
‘‘This is as good of a horse as I’ve ever had, but he’s just had so many setbacks.
‘‘Gai thought it was one of the best she’d had, Peter Moody thought it was a freak.
‘‘At its best it should have won today like it did.’’
Singleton preferred to be at Hawkesbury last week rather than Flemington where he had Yesterjoy in the group 1 Crown Oaks.
And he flew in from the Central Coast on his private chopper to watch the horse he bred score a three-quarter of a length win from Monton.
‘‘Melbourne’s too far, that’s why I’m here, it’s a long way home when you get beaten,’’ Singleton said.
‘‘From here it’s only 10 minutes.’’
The advertising guru praised the ride of Josh Parr and also had a little dig at his former trainer Gai Waterhouse who he had a much public falling out with in 2012.
Waterhouse took Parr off Hampton Court despite his good ride on it in the Spring Champion Stakes, preferring Kerrin McEvoy to ride the colt in the Victoria Derby.
‘‘That Josh Parr, I’ve been trying to get him on my horses for years,’’ Singleton said.
‘‘He lives in Gosford and he’s riding fantastic.
‘‘Josh told me he was just going to dominate the race and he’s done it.
‘‘It makes up for getting the sack of Hampton Court.’’
Parr rode the $6 chance like an odds-on favourite, taking Strawberry Boy to the lead and showing the rest of the field who was boss.
‘‘It’s easy to gain confidence when you’re on such a nice animal,’’ Parr said.
‘‘From the 500 metres he tracked into the race and I was going half pace.
‘‘It was too soon for most horses to improve into a race like that but when he was going as easy as he was I didn’t hesitate to put him into the race and put it to rest.’’
Singleton said he hadn’t heard from Chris Waller before the race as the country’s premier trainer was on duty at Flemington during the spring carnival.
But he had no doubt the top trainer would have been happy.
‘‘Chris Waller’s doing all right and that’s probably one of the highlights of his career,’’ Singleton said.
